My Sweet Love
by BrownSugarC
Summary: Minding his own business an elderly Christopher LaSalle walked into the middle of a bank robbery. Two years later he is still suffering from the effects of the gun shot of the nervous bank robber. We are provided with a glimpse of Sonja and Christopher's life in his final days and an unexpected crossroad in their life together.


"Sonja?"

"What is it Christopher?"

"Sonja are you there?"

"Yes Country Mouse, I'm right here."

"Will you climb in here with me?"

"Well yes, but aren't you a little old to be trying to get frisky."

"Very funny City Mouse. Come here. Now this feels right" he says as he wraps his arms around his beloved wife. "Remember the first time we hugged?"

"Sure. In the squad room at NCIS in New Orleans the day after I made it off that tugboat."

"Yeah, the day I realized that I could love you."

"Hummm." Sonja responds. "We did this last night Butch. I still don't know why you went down memory road. You almost lost your voice talking.

"Are you happy Sonja?"

"Oh yes, Christopher. You have made me very happy. It has been quite a ride though. Never a dull moment after you came to your senses and realized that you couldn't live without me."

"Well now Sonja, I have never professed to being the smartest one in our relationship, but I was able to realize that I was wrong to let you go away from me. And what I said last night as I walked, rather talked through our life together proves that I did finally wise up and that I was the primary beneficiary of that wisdom."

"Excuse me Mr. and Mrs. LaSalle" the nurse says to them. "I need to take your vitals sir."

"Well, I am pretty sure that my sexy wife has both my blood pressure and pulse up" Chris snarks.

"I'll be right back Chris."

"Don't go too far City Mouse, I'm not ready to let you go."

"Okay, I have heard those words before."

A few minutes later

"I'm not sure how she finds more spots to poke. I feel like a pin cushion. Can you get that City Mouse? I can't seem to reach the phone."

"Hello." Response

"Hello Tucker. It's good to hear from you. Yes. Mr. LaSalle is right here."

The call continues as Sonja steps out in the hallway to give her husband some privacy.

As she sits down on the chair outside of the room her mind wanders back to the first time she heard Tucker's voice.

"Hello Mrs. LaSalle?"

"Yes."

"My name is Tucker James. I was going through some clippings of my late mother's and I found a wedding announcement for you and a man named Christopher LaSalle. I thought he might be distant relative or something and I thought that I should at least try to confirm that."

"Tucker, my husband is at the office right now but if you will leave your name and number with me, I will be sure that he gets the message. And oh, Tucker, you said your late mother?"

"Yes Ma'am. My mother was killed in an auto accident when I was fifteen. I know she had some family but I don't know what happened to them. I also lost track of my birth father."

"Well Tucker I can tell you this, I know that you meant a lot to my husband and he was saddened when you left his life."

Sonja thought on how Chris had learned that Tucker's father was killed in a prison uprising about seven years after he knocked him down in the squad room in New Orleans. She also knew that Chris had always wondered what had happened to the boy.

Sonja amazed her own self when Chris asked her if it was okay that he went to see him after he returned the call. "Christopher I'm surprised" she told him. "You are one of the finest men that I have ever met. If you can help that boy why would I try to stop you?"

Well her husband took her at her word and brought the boy back with him for the rest of the summer. She found that it was hard for her not to love the motherless boy. Tucker took great interest in their children as well as Sonja.

Tucker had decided that he would take another year of ROTC in high school and see if he could get in to college ROTC. For some reason, however, he changed his mind and went down to the recruiting station a week after his eighteenth birthday and enlisted. Christopher was livid. He later calmly visited with Tucker the next weekend when he flew down to Dothan to talk to him face to face.

Tucker had a plan though and was thoroughly sorry that he didn't share it with Mr. LaSalle. In the end Tucker was correct and in his second year in the Marine Corps he applied for and was accepted to the U. S Naval Academy. After his first year at Annapolis, Tucker became a fixture at the LaSalle home for the few days that he had off during the academic and summer time periods. Three years later Sonja and Christopher pinned on his Ensign bars.

Christopher laughed when Tucker told him that he had to 'settle' for flight school. Settled Chris thought. Well they knew that he really want to be an astronaut but the American government was no longer sending their own ships into space but getting into flight school was a BIG deal.

Tucker did well academically both at the Academy and in flight school. She still did not understand why he was surprised that he got a coveted slot on an aircraft carrier.

Her attention came back to the present when a squeaky gurney passed by her. She was hoping that he had been able to get leave to come see his 'uncle' before it was too late.

"Thank you for calling Marine. You have a good flight now" Sonja overheard her husband say as she reentered his hospital room.

"So where is he today" Sonja asked?

"He couldn't tell me just that he had to go get some time in the air in a couple of hours. But I'm guessing on a flat top somewhere because I was pretty sure those sounds were coming from a flight deck."

"It was sure good to hear his voice."

"Only because of you love. I cannot believe that he track me down after all that time. I'm still wondering why Melody kept the wedding announcement about our marriage. If you hadn't submitted that thing to my hometown newspaper, she would have never known what happened to me or kept the information that Tucker was able to find. Did I ever thank you for being so accepting of him?"

"Oh come on Christopher. Why would I hold anything against that young man? While he will never know what your being in his life really means or how he came into your life, I know he was blest to have found you and for the two of you to be so close. Your encouraging him to stick through the flight school challenges helped him complete it. And you have one more namesake. I still think however that he should have named his little girl Sonja."

"Funny City Mouse. Now come on back up here and tell me the latest about my grand babies."

It took a while for Sonja to get the updated information out. Tucker's Christopher was ready to enter high school the next fall. Grandson Chris had received a blow to the head at baseball practice and was sporting a big bruise that his father had photographed and sent. Emily's twins were anxious to be starting kindergarten and driving their mom up the wall regarding all the things they wanted to buy for school

"Chris, Christopher?" Sonja looked over to see that her weary husband had nodded off to sleep. "Well. Goodnight my love. I'll see you in the morning" she said as she reached over to kiss him.

_Early the next morning_

"Mrs. LaSalle. This is Ann Johnson at Memorial. Ma'am. We think you might want to come" back. Mr. LaSalle had a bad night. You might also want to call any family members as well.

"Sonja is that you" Chris LaSalle asked in a barely audible voice?

"Yes Chris my love it's me."

"Come closer. I love you Sonja."

"I love you too Butch."

"Excuse me ma'am" the nurse said as the alarms go off.

"I'm sorry Mrs. LaSalle. He's gone."

"I need to stay here. Can I?"

"Yes ma'am as long as you wish."

Sonja LaSalle left the hospital lost. "What will I do without you Christopher" she wondered out loud.

She decided to take a car service back to the farm and retrieve her SUV later. 9 a.m. Let me call the children first she thought.

Before she could get to the library, the doorbell rang. It was Thang Dương their attorney. Tucker had met Thang the first summer that he stayed with the LaSalles. They were the only teenage boys in the neighborhood. Thang's uncle and four of his first cousins were barristers in England. Sonja was relieved to know that they expected excellence in the classroom for their children which reinforced the LaSalle's philosophy on education.

"I'm so sorry Mrs. LaSalle. Is there anything that I can do to help you today?"

"No Thang I'm still shocked. He didn't look or sound that bad when I left the hospital last night."

"My wife can come over if you wish."

"No I will be fine."

"I only wanted to come over because Mr. LaSalle asked me to deliver this to you."

He hands her an envelope. She immediately recognizes Christopher's handwriting and looks at Trang with questionable eyes.

"I'm just doing what I was asked to do ma'am."

"Well, thank you. I will look for you to stop by tomorrow."

Sonja held the envelope for at least five minutes afraid to open it.

My beloved one

I could never have tolerated having to bury you so if you are reading this it means that you are remembering me. I hope that I have made you half as happy as you have made me. As I write this I still remember the first time that I laid eyes on you as well as the first time I wrapped my arms around you in the squad room at NCIS New Orleans.

I have tried my best to express my gratitude to you for the friendship and kindness that you gave to me the first two years of our acquaintance. I can look back and see almost every word and jester that came from your being that transported you into my heart. Your kindness at my loss of Savannah is story that needs to be told by the most famous romance novelist. The part that you played in bringing Tucker back into my life was an unexpected joy that I still have never been able to fully thank you for. His reunion with us and the part that he has played in our family cannot be measured.

But most of all, my sweet love, I want you to know how much I appreciate how you cared for and loved me over the decades. You made our home a special and safe place for me to seek refugee from our dangerous jobs. You gave me two beautiful children and accepted Tucker as a second son. Every day with you by my side was an adventure unto itself. Your encouragement to me to pursue my own dream job helped me in each step that I climbed. Your insight in sharing your experiences and challenges in both your personal and professional lives helped me become a better father, husband and supervisor.

I could never have known that I could love someone so much and at the same time be loved so deeply by such a beautiful, caring woman. Each day break brought a new level of joy to my heart.

I will love you until the end of time my sweet Sonja.

Christopher

Sonja Percy LaSalle sat in that spot for a long time crying and thinking back over the years that she had spent with Christopher LaSalle. She tried to think of just how she could go on without him or even if she really wanted to. As the phone rang, she tried to find a hundred reasons why she would not answer it but knew there was too much business that needed to be handled with her husband's death to ignore it.

"Hello momma."

"Hi son. I was just about to call you. Honey, I'm sorry to have to tell you that your father passed away a few hours ago. He had already planned his service but I will need to call the Red Cross in a few minutes to see when Tucker can get here before we can set the day of the funeral. I'll call your sister in a few minutes.

Yes baby he loved you very much. We could never thank him enough for being here and caring for you and your sister when I was deployed somewhere on a mission. This last year has been so special for us both that we could be together 24/7. You were blest to have such a fine man as your father and your guide."

"Hi Emily its momma. Honey I'm so sorry to have to call you to tell you that your father passed away a few hours ago. I thought we had more time. He was looking forward to you and CJ and the children to coming to the farm for Thanksgiving. I don't know Em but we know that the gunshot was close to his heart. The security camera at the bank got a perfect shot of the bank robber that day and the FBI was able to pick him up in a matter of hours."

Exhausted, Sonja went into their bedroom with the flash drive in that was also in the envelope in hand to see what her sweet love had left for her. There she found a beautiful 'cover' song by Kim Carnes 'Sweet Love Song To My Soul'.

You make everything beautiful

You make everything come alive, yes you do now

You make everything real again

When you look at me, yes and you smile

You bring me

Happiness

Tenderness

You're the sweet love song to my soul

Happiness

Tenderness

You're the sweet love song to my soul

I don't need to go no farther

Than this feeling you just laid down on me

Takes me so high

All I got to do is look

And you bring me

Happiness

Tenderness

You're the sweet love song to my soul

Happiness

Tenderness

You're the sweet love song to my soul

I'll lie down for a minute she thought as she drifted off to sleep. I already miss you Christopher was her last thought.


End file.
